So I wanted to see if EA's forums exploded with rage on the matter, and I came across this. Apparently you can choose to opt in/out if you want just like with Valve and Steam.

"There is an option to opt out.

If you go to http://profile.ea.com and login, scroll down to the bottom of the page where it has your billing/shipping information.

Right above this section is the "Contact Options". The first option is to be contacted by EA regarding products & news. The second option is "Share my information with select EA partners". Click on "Update Contact Options" and you can opt-out of the EA Partners section.

So I wanted to see if EA's forums exploded with rage on the matter, and I came across this. Apparently you can choose to opt in/out if you want just like with Valve and Steam.

"There is an option to opt out.

If you go to http://profile.ea.com and login, scroll down to the bottom of the page where it has your billing/shipping information.

Right above this section is the "Contact Options". The first option is to be contacted by EA regarding products & news. The second option is "Share my information with select EA partners". Click on "Update Contact Options" and you can opt-out of the EA Partners section.

mornal:Oh no! So you mean to say that if I have Origin I'll get spam mail based on what it thinks I like? That's horrible! This is a completely new thing that will ruin everything forever! And you say it'll detect pirated software? How dare EA try to fight against an illegal practice! What has the world come to?

Why don't you want the police randomly searching your house, you have nothing to fear if you did nothing wrong?

You know, most people don't want everything you do on your computer (including the totally legal stuff) to be distributed to everyone and their moma.

Shame, BF3 was quite high up on my 'to buy' list but I'm seriously considering not bothering with it now. First EA is forcing us PC gamers to use Origin and then they sneak this big brother bullshit into the EULA. Until they either retract this rubbish or stop having a massive, gaping, waterfall of a period about their games appearing on Steam it's doubtful I'll bother.

This bullshit is illegal in New Zealand, an entity cannot reserve the right to sell private details to a third party. Actually considering writing to teh cunsumers authority just in an attempt to be a dick to EA.

I actually think in America you cannot reserve the rights that don't exist.

It's as simple as this:I wouldn't appreciate, if my computer pimped me out to people wanting to probe me for financial gain, so i'm not gonna do so to my computer.And before someone say "but anti-virus probes your PC, why is that okay?" let me answer you in advance. Anti virus is for PC's what docters are for people, and sometimes you need a camera probed up your rear end in order to fix you. While not pleasant, it's a neccecery evil.

We should really start a campaign based on this, as stupid as anti-piracy "you wouldn't download a car" adds.

I just looked through the Steam EULA ( http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ ) to see if Steam was guilty of doing the same thing Origin does, and perhaps I missed something, but I can't seem to find a passage that indicates that Steam collects information on your computer, unless you opt to do so through one of their surveys.

On a side note, am I the only one who finds it odd that EA named the service after Origin Systems?

As it is, I bet most of the people who are complaining will sign on and use it anyway.

Which sends the message, once again, that EA's behaviour is OK.

We have to accept such terms because people continue to allow it. People need to take responsibility instead of holding tantrums about their rights then playing the games anyway. Do we, as gamers, really lack such self-restraint? It appears the answer is yes.

mornal:Oh no! So you mean to say that if I have Origin I'll get spam mail based on what it thinks I like? That's horrible! This is a completely new thing that will ruin everything forever! And you say it'll detect pirated software? How dare EA try to fight against an illegal practice! What has the world come to?

Why don't you want the police randomly searching your house, you have nothing to fear if you did nothing wrong?

You know, most people don't want everything you do on your computer (including the totally legal stuff) to be distributed to everyone and their moma.

Two different things. The police are a government agency. EA is a corporation. Disregarding that, though, for the police searching my house to be like EA searching my computer they would have to search the house of anyone who uses Origin.

Additionally, if EA finds pirated software that isn't theirs, what do you think they'll do with that information? Does it really strike you as plausible for EA every single company that any of their users pirated from to say, 'Hey, this dude has some of your software'? Or maybe they'll do what you said and "distribute it to everyone and their moma" (which the police don't do, they're generally good about not letting the public in on things). Then what? Sure, everyone and their momma will now know about all the dirty secrets you have on your computer, but they won't care. I find it much more likely that EA will only care about pirated software if it's their stuff.

Also the distribution of information will only result in spam messages in your inbox. Think about it logically. If EA does anything more than that with your personal info, the political shitstorm that follows would ruin them forever (or at least long enough to severely weaken their position in the industry). Hell, I've been using Origin now since April and I haven't noticed a marked increase in spam. Even if you do realise you're suddenly inundated with unwanted e-mails, are you telling me that marking the 'this is spam' box is too much of a hassle?

I'd like to state that I don't condone or support the spying. I just don't overreact like everyone (hyperbole) else and refuse to buy any EA products.

It annoys me when people say 'vote with your wallet' or try to boycott a company. When people refuse to buy games the publishers and developers the message you're sending them is 'This game isn't popular, don't make more of it'. If that's the message you're trying to send, that's great, but if it's not then you just killed off a series/franchise. And when has boycotting worked? Recent examples about CoD: PC gamers boycotted MW2 for not having dedicated servers, and I remember finding out about a week after release around 75% of the Steam group leading the boycott were playing MW2. Then all the gamers who read about IW and Activision decide to boycott the next CoD game. The next CoD game then turns into a best-seller.

You can't change EA's policies with a boycott or refusing to buy their games. The people swearing off EA for this Origin spying debacle are severely outnumbered by the people who don't care. For some of you, Origin is a huge thing that'll change the future of gaming. For others, Origin is something they have to download before they can play Battlefield 3.

As it is, I bet most of the people who are complaining will sign on and use it anyway.

Which sends the message, once again, that EA's behaviour is OK.

We have to accept such terms because people continue to allow it. People need to take responsibility instead of holding tantrums about their rights then playing the games anyway. Do we, as gamers, really lack such self-restraint? It appears the answer is yes.

Yeah I'm going to use it, but I'm going to bitch and whine something fierce

As it is, I bet most of the people who are complaining will sign on and use it anyway.

Which sends the message, once again, that EA's behaviour is OK.

We have to accept such terms because people continue to allow it. People need to take responsibility instead of holding tantrums about their rights then playing the games anyway. Do we, as gamers, really lack such self-restraint? It appears the answer is yes.

I don't play PC games, so won't be using origin anyway. I just find it disgusting that they're doing it.

How the hell would I know what EA is collecting and what it's not with an EULA like that.

i was just making a joke, followed by my actual opinion, which i'm pretty sure went along the lines of "screw EA, and screw origin, no matter how much i want to play mass effect 3" but with less of an aggressive tone at the time(i can't really be bothered re reading it right now).

i'm aware of the problem with it potentially accessing important personal info, and at the current time, no, i don't have retirement investments, nor a credit card (i don't want a credit card, i'd end up in debt far too easy).however, i still access my bank and perform online purchases, and no, i wouldn't feel comfortable with ea potentially knowing my bank details or anything aside from what games i'd be using on their service. hence why i'm not going to use origin.

this is really bad stuff from EA. They will be going against there own contract. They say if you dont like the terms and conditions you can not install origin however with battle feild 3 you will be forced to be install origin or you cannot play the game. even if you buy a cd copy it has to installed. i think its safe to say this is a brech of contract.

I want to get Battlefield 3, I want to like EA. But..why are they doing this? The amount of increased pirating this will encourage...surely they realise that a whole lot of people are going to be pissed off about this?

Doclector:I don't play PC games, so won't be using origin anyway. I just find it disgusting that they're doing it.

Unless they start making you sign up for it on consoles...

Well, then, continue to do what you're doing. But since PC gamers will willingly sign their rights away, even though this has been made public knowledge and sparked a pretty large backlash, the end result is the same: the community will almost certainly send the message that this is okay.

Why?

Because they'll buy it anyway.

As you're being disgusted at the corporation for doing it, save some disgust for the people who will allow it. Especially those who will pitch a fit and eventually buy it anyway.

mornal:Oh no! So you mean to say that if I have Origin I'll get spam mail based on what it thinks I like? That's horrible! This is a completely new thing that will ruin everything forever! And you say it'll detect pirated software? How dare EA try to fight against an illegal practice! What has the world come to?

Why don't you want the police randomly searching your house, you have nothing to fear if you did nothing wrong?

You know, most people don't want everything you do on your computer (including the totally legal stuff) to be distributed to everyone and their moma.

Two different things. The police are a government agency. EA is a corporation. Disregarding that, though, for the police searching my house to be like EA searching my computer they would have to search the house of anyone who uses Origin.

Additionally, if EA finds pirated software that isn't theirs, what do you think they'll do with that information? Does it really strike you as plausible for EA every single company that any of their users pirated from to say, 'Hey, this dude has some of your software'? Or maybe they'll do what you said and "distribute it to everyone and their moma" (which the police don't do, they're generally good about not letting the public in on things). Then what? Sure, everyone and their momma will now know about all the dirty secrets you have on your computer, but they won't care. I find it much more likely that EA will only care about pirated software if it's their stuff.

Also the distribution of information will only result in spam messages in your inbox. Think about it logically. If EA does anything more than that with your personal info, the political shitstorm that follows would ruin them forever (or at least long enough to severely weaken their position in the industry). Hell, I've been using Origin now since April and I haven't noticed a marked increase in spam. Even if you do realise you're suddenly inundated with unwanted e-mails, are you telling me that marking the 'this is spam' box is too much of a hassle?

I'd like to state that I don't condone or support the spying. I just don't overreact like everyone (hyperbole) else and refuse to buy any EA products.

It annoys me when people say 'vote with your wallet' or try to boycott a company. When people refuse to buy games the publishers and developers the message you're sending them is 'This game isn't popular, don't make more of it'. If that's the message you're trying to send, that's great, but if it's not then you just killed off a series/franchise. And when has boycotting worked? Recent examples about CoD: PC gamers boycotted MW2 for not having dedicated servers, and I remember finding out about a week after release around 75% of the Steam group leading the boycott were playing MW2. Then all the gamers who read about IW and Activision decide to boycott the next CoD game. The next CoD game then turns into a best-seller.

You can't change EA's policies with a boycott or refusing to buy their games. The people swearing off EA for this Origin spying debacle are severely outnumbered by the people who don't care. For some of you, Origin is a huge thing that'll change the future of gaming. For others, Origin is something they have to download before they can play Battlefield 3.

And why don't we want the police searching everything?

A little something called privacy.

Think about it this way, there's no provisions for what information they may obtain or how they may use this information.

Lets say you have a legal but potentially embarrassing hobby, for example, you're a major fan of producing anthropomorphic art (aka, a furry). Assume you want to keep it private because you don't want everyone thinking that your hobby is sex in fursuits.

Now EA has this information and if you ever run for political office you can bet that EA's gonna sell it to your opponents.

This isn't a boycott, this is plain old "it's not worth it", I don't want everything I do in my spare time to be usable by EA as they see fit. No, this crosses the line, and if you're fine with EA being able to do that to you, feel free, enjoy it.

Really, the only reason I'm fine with giving EA permission to search my computer is that I know nothing will come of it. Just because EA can do something doesn't mean it will. For example, I can spout off racist comments and be protected by the first amendment, but I won't because I know that people will hate me for it. As I said before, doing anything outside of the norm would draw too much attention and create too much negative PR.

Would I prefer it if Origin's EULA in regards to gathering data was more refined and restricted? Yeah, but I don't see the point of doing anything more than making it known to as many people as possible. That way if EA does screw up, more people know.

And just to clarify, I didn't mean to imply you were boycotting (unless you are, then it was completely intentional). Nothing in that rant was directed at you or any specific person. There are people boycotting it (or at least there will be, I guarantee it) and if anything, it was directed at them.

Really, the only reason I'm fine with giving EA permission to search my computer is that I know nothing will come of it. Just because EA can do something doesn't mean it will. For example, I can spout off racist comments and be protected by the first amendment, but I won't because I know that people will hate me for it. As I said before, doing anything outside of the norm would draw too much attention and create too much negative PR.

Would I prefer it if Origin's EULA in regards to gathering data was more refined and restricted? Yeah, but I don't see the point of doing anything more than making it known to as many people as possible. That way if EA does screw up, more people know.

And just to clarify, I didn't mean to imply you were boycotting (unless you are, then it was completely intentional). Nothing in that rant was directed at you or any specific person. There are people boycotting it (or at least there will be, I guarantee it) and if anything, it was directed at them.

Believe me, there is nobody in the world doesn't have at least one secret they'd be embarrassed about. They may consider it completely moral and it might be completely legal, but doesn't mean that they want it all over the web.

Ex. If you have a wife, you probably have sex with her, does that mean you want pictures of it plastered over the net.

At the very least, you probably use it for financial data of some sort, do you REALLY want EA touching your finances? Seriously.

I doubt few people are boycotting it per say, they're probably just assessing the privacy issue and being like "no way, not worth it", just like I am. Unless you consider not buying mcdonalds cause you like eating healthy boycotting, then I guess I'm boycotting most products. Especially yatchs.

Really, the only reason I'm fine with giving EA permission to search my computer is that I know nothing will come of it. Just because EA can do something doesn't mean it will. For example, I can spout off racist comments and be protected by the first amendment, but I won't because I know that people will hate me for it. As I said before, doing anything outside of the norm would draw too much attention and create too much negative PR.

Would I prefer it if Origin's EULA in regards to gathering data was more refined and restricted? Yeah, but I don't see the point of doing anything more than making it known to as many people as possible. That way if EA does screw up, more people know.

And just to clarify, I didn't mean to imply you were boycotting (unless you are, then it was completely intentional). Nothing in that rant was directed at you or any specific person. There are people boycotting it (or at least there will be, I guarantee it) and if anything, it was directed at them.

Believe me, there is nobody in the world doesn't have at least one secret they'd be embarrassed about. They may consider it completely moral and it might be completely legal, but doesn't mean that they want it all over the web.

Ex. If you have a wife, you probably have sex with her, does that mean you want pictures of it plastered over the net.

At the very least, you probably use it for financial data of some sort, do you REALLY want EA touching your finances? Seriously.

I doubt few people are boycotting it per say, they're probably just assessing the privacy issue and being like "no way, not worth it", just like I am. Unless you consider not buying mcdonalds cause you like eating healthy boycotting, then I guess I'm boycotting most products. Especially yatchs.

Oh I'm not denying that there are some things I'd like to keep private. I'm just saying that, to me, the odds of anything coming of this are slim. Really, you probably got my position on this issue in your previous post. I'm just okay with EA being able to do this to me.

At this point though, we're just debating principles and I don't think anyone has been swayed from strongly held beliefs in the history of everything through civility. So unless you have some secret ultimate argument you've been holding out on, I'd like to thank you for the debate.

Really, the only reason I'm fine with giving EA permission to search my computer is that I know nothing will come of it. Just because EA can do something doesn't mean it will. For example, I can spout off racist comments and be protected by the first amendment, but I won't because I know that people will hate me for it. As I said before, doing anything outside of the norm would draw too much attention and create too much negative PR.

Would I prefer it if Origin's EULA in regards to gathering data was more refined and restricted? Yeah, but I don't see the point of doing anything more than making it known to as many people as possible. That way if EA does screw up, more people know.

And just to clarify, I didn't mean to imply you were boycotting (unless you are, then it was completely intentional). Nothing in that rant was directed at you or any specific person. There are people boycotting it (or at least there will be, I guarantee it) and if anything, it was directed at them.

Believe me, there is nobody in the world doesn't have at least one secret they'd be embarrassed about. They may consider it completely moral and it might be completely legal, but doesn't mean that they want it all over the web.

Ex. If you have a wife, you probably have sex with her, does that mean you want pictures of it plastered over the net.

At the very least, you probably use it for financial data of some sort, do you REALLY want EA touching your finances? Seriously.

I doubt few people are boycotting it per say, they're probably just assessing the privacy issue and being like "no way, not worth it", just like I am. Unless you consider not buying mcdonalds cause you like eating healthy boycotting, then I guess I'm boycotting most products. Especially yatchs.

Oh I'm not denying that there are some things I'd like to keep private. I'm just saying that, to me, the odds of anything coming of this are slim. Really, you probably got my position on this issue in your previous post. I'm just okay with EA being able to do this to me.

At this point though, we're just debating principles and I don't think anyone has been swayed from strongly held beliefs in the history of everything through civility. So unless you have some secret ultimate argument you've been holding out on, I'd like to thank you for the debate.

I think it dose other than specified i think if it checks what sites i think third parties and EA will look at them and if its like your email then they could read your emails and look at account log in info and selling those links to third parties so they can see it and who can say that those third parties will not leak information to the public about you. I like EA but this is outrages but if you are excepting the Terms and Conditions then they can do what they want because you expected the EULA and now once you accepted to play battlefield 3 there is no turning back i think a stating something like a petition and thing of that nature would maybe get them to change their minds but I bet they will be like Capcom with MML3 and say screw you petitions and everyone who feels strongly about this we will do what we want and that is final. I hope they change and if not it seems like people won't buy from EA and i really wanted BF3 but now i will take that money and spend it on Goldeneye reloaded or any other game or anything. I hope they change because this is spyware this should be illegal but wait you excepted there terms and now you cant do anything about it. They will keep making bad choices soon making them low on money and hopefully taking it away. One last thing why do they want to stalk you I i think that they will lose allot of money now on this and fans without people to buy your games you don't make money and without money your company fails and cant pay bills, developers and make games (if it was a gaming company that is all.

Just wondering, does this mean if you have original ideas data etc etc.. EA can access them and use them for themselves..? And if they want take your username and use it for whatever nefarious reasons EA wants...??

Dont know what it says in the english language EULA, but in the french version, it actually states that although EA collectes information, EA will never sell to third parties or divulge any informations unless obliged by the law.

i really hate ea for not going along with the rules steam has had for ages even though i do want mass effect 3 and battlefield i want to play them with steam as steam games with my friends who dont use origin and never will. also i needed origin for some mass effect DLC i installed origin put the dlc on removed origin and never looked at it again.please ea put your games on steam again cause even though your origin idea sucked the games you provide are still awesome.

I agree, it's an invasion of privacy, but eh, doesn't bother me enough to restrain from buying EA games completely...

As an aside, I felt really dumb as a human being when all the playstation users were shocked to find that Sony keeps their credit card info encrypted in their systems...I mean it's a multi-billion dollar company, it's what they do. What did you guys expect?

bbad89:This is spying, plain and simple, and I'm fairly certain it's against the law. Can't we do anything about this?

Sadly, i don't see a way to bring this to the wider public's attention - Too many people easily shrug off their rights today, anyways. The only thing we can really do is pretend we're making a difference by boycotting their games - at least, the pc version with the devilish eula.

There was a thread on the escapist a few weeks back, maybe a month or so titled "internet explodes over EA orgins" or something like that. it included everything you need to know to let EA know you disapprove - email addresses for all of the people you'd need to contact, etc.

If you check out Amazon, BF3's reviews are in the middle ground between 3 stars mainly due to the ratings blackout by Amazon.de

For all the hype and all the non-sense involved, they'll never move away from the Origin platform, unless Valve and Steam come up with a way to allow the in-game browser for the Game Overlay open to the Battlelog website.